


Re: Starting Life in Order to Save Him From Death

by Chemaflauge



Category: Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 | Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World (Anime)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Suffering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:22:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29376321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chemaflauge/pseuds/Chemaflauge
Summary: A divergence in the story from Arc 3 where Subaru "gives" RbD to Emilia after he appears in the mansion in his 3rd loop.
Relationships: Emilia/Natsuki Subaru
Comments: 22
Kudos: 144





	1. Why?

Emilia didn't understand.

"...Why... did you come back?" Her voice was trembling.

She had left Subaru to the capital for healing and in an attempt to distance herself from him, being around her was clearly dangerous. Subaru kept pushing himself too hard for her sake and had sustained life-threatening injuries multiple times while putting himself in harm's way just so, in his own words, he could help Emilia for saving him. She had no memories of saving Subaru and she felt incredibly guilty from the huge debt she owed him. Seeing him in such pain and suffering from such wounds constantly because of her made her heart ache.

But here he was, five days after their parting. He had arrived back in the mansion, passed out and alone in an unknown dragon carriage, covered in yet more wounds. Emilia had a lot of complicated emotions as she looked at his then unconscious form with tears in her eyes while healing him. She had so many questions to ask him. She was immensely disappointed at him for breaking the contract between her and Crusch that she had worked so hard to make. But actually confronting him now that he had woken up left her mind blank, she couldn't think of any other questions but 'why.'

"Come on. You can't stay here." Subaru said with a hint of a quiver in his voice as he offered Emilia his hand. She pulled away from him slightly and looked at his hand before shaking her head and worriedly asking, "Go where...? No, why?"

"Anywhere will work, as long as it's not here. If you're gonna ask what it's for, my answer is that it's for your sake. i came back for your—" Subaru said with urgency in his voice and a pleading look.

"This again, Subaru?" Emilia looked at him with disappointment in her eyes, as she felt tears gathering in them. "Returning all of a sudden, covered in wounds and making everyone worry... Aren't you supposed to be undergoing treatment from Ferris in the royal capital? Why are you here now?"

His voice became louder as he replied, "A lot happened! There's a mountain of things to explain, but I don't have the time to do it right now. Please listen to me. We have to get out of this mansion this—"

"I told you I can't, didn't I? I can't trust you like this, Subaru... I told you." She said while frowning as she remembered his actions in the capital.

Their parting had deeply hurt Emilia. She thought he would be the one person who would not see her for her looks and her race, for being a half-elf, but instead as a normal girl. She thought she had finally made a true friend, but he completely obliterated her trust by breaking all of the promises they had made. For the second time since the waiting room in the capital, his mask had slipped off completely and Emilia was forced to see the ugliest side of the person known as 'Natsuki Subaru.'

"I'll drag you out of here if I have to. In a few days, you'll know I'm right whether you want to or not, so...!"

"Wait. Wait, Subaru. What's wrong? This isn't like you, Subaru. I... And yet—"

The Subaru back in the capital and the one currently in front of her were ones that she had never seen before, strangers.

Suddenly, Subaru yelled, "Just shut up and listen to me!!" Emilia felt her shoulders tremble as she was hit by Subaru's shout, accompanied by him glaring at her.

"You can't stay here. You'll regret it. I know you will. It won't help anyone. It won't save anyone. I don’t want to suffer anymore. I don't want to cry anymore!" His voice was tinged with sorrow and pain.

"What are you talking about...? Subaru, I don't understand."

"Shut up! If everyone would just... If you do exactly what I tell you, it'll be all right! Everything will turn out okay. It's true! Why doesn't anyone understand that...?!" He started clawing at his head as he increased the volume of his voice. She had a hard time believing that this was the same Subaru that she had come to know during the short month they had lived together.

"I'm sorry, Subaru. I don't get what you’re saying. I really can't understand it." Emilia looked down with sadness in her eyes. She spoke softly in an effort to calm and soothe the angry Subaru, "I want to understand. But even if I could understand with time, I can't give you that right now... There are so many things I need to do. That’s why right now, I—"

"It'll all go wrong." Subaru suddenly interrupted Emilia. His voice was low and barely audible.

"It'll all go wrong. You're no good. You'll fail. There's no way you could do it. There's no chance. You're all talk. Totally beyond saving. No one can rescue you. You'll just keep doing rash and reckless things, and the number of corpses in the pile will be the same. That... is your future." Subaru said, the spitefulness in his voice increasing with every word. Each word pricking away at Emilia harder than the previous one, digging deeper into her aching heart. Emilia felt her face contort in hurt. He spewed hurtful words that made no sense to Emilia. Subaru described a future so dark it couldn't possibly be true. Tears filled his eyes and his mouth slowly broke out into a twisted grin with each word that came out of it.

"Why?"

Emilia muttered, stunned. She felt her heart hurt for him. Her eyes remained unclouded as she followed up her question with, "Why do you look like you're crying from so much pain, Subaru?"

The realisation hit Subaru like a dragon carriage, his smile waned as the dam broke and his tears started flowing full force. "Rem... she brought me this far... No. She stayed with me this far, and there are things I have to do for her..." he said while trying to wipe his eyes with the back of his hand, anxiously searching his heart for the original feelings that had gotten him this far.

"Rem?" Emilia repeated in confusion while tilting her head quizzically at the mention of an unknown person.

"—"

Subaru visibly froze and his breath hitched.

He stared at Emilia for a moment, eyes wide, and then spoke out with grief in his voice.

"—You too."

"Huh?"

"You've... forgotten Rem, too—" Subaru said, his voice and face incredibly pained. Emilia looked at Subaru with concern as he himself looked down for a moment, his face hidden by his bangs. He clenched his fists. Seemingly having gathered himself, he met Emilia's eyes, a new fire burning in his own, his gaze clear for the first time since they began speaking. It looked as if he had made up his mind about something. Emilia felt a tiny smidge of relief at the more familiar look on Subaru's face.

In a low tone of voice, he growled out, "—All right. I'll tell you everything." He took a few steps back and clutched his robe over his heart. It looked like he was mentally preparing for something. After a brief pause, he exhaled and said.

"It's better to get everything out, even if it makes me cough up blood."

Seeing his newfound resolve, Emilia unconsciously straightened herself and swallowed stiffly, preparing herself for what Subaru was about to say. She waited with bated breath for the next words that would come out from his mouth. Words that would change her life forever.

His gaze unwavering and his voice serious he called out to her. "Emilia."

"Yes?" She responded affirmatively slightly nodding her head.

"I've... seen the future. I know what's gonna happen. And if you wanna know why, it's because... I can Return by Death—"

As he was saying those words, Emilia felt something dark, incorporeal, and uncomfortable intrude into her body. It searched around for something and quickly found its way to her soul. It started softly wrapping itself around her soul and enveloped it carefully. Emilia shuddered at the feeling, which created a sense of unease and anxiousness, but also warmth, in her heart.

As she took note of the discomfort, Emilia suddenly felt as if the world stood still, no, it did stay still. Emilia was befuddled that she couldn't move or even feel her body. The second thing she noticed was that the world was unnaturally silent, she could not hear any sounds, even from herself. Panic started to fill her head as her body realised she couldn't breathe. Strangely she did not need to breathe and while her mind understood it, her body did not. Trying to distract herself from the deafening silence and from the feeling of asphyxiation, which made it feel like she would go insane, Emilia fully focused on the only usable sense she still had, her vision. Her gaze was transfixed on Subaru's and she had no choice but to focus on it, as she wasn't able to move her eyes. She saw something black, akin to smoke, appear from behind Subaru and slowly fill the room. Emilia could also see two slender arms, seemingly made of shadow, come out of the smoke. One of the arms disappeared from sight back behind Subaru, while the other, lovingly and teasingly slid its fingers across his cheek, down his neck, over his chest, as if flirting with him, and stopped next to where he was clutching his robe.

Emilia had a bad premonition as she saw the arm in her peripheral vision leisurely enter his body. Alarm bells were ringing full force in her head, she wanted to rush to him and get him away from the arms, but time was still suspended. As much as she tried to struggle against the stillness, there was nothing she could do. After what felt like an eternity of just staring at Subaru, feeling horrified and powerless, the shadowy arm came out of his body. As it did so, it started to dissipate and the smoke along with it. Time started to move again.

Suddenly, without warning, Subaru collapsed forward, face-first on the ground.

_Subaru!_

Emilia's first instinct was to call out to Subaru, but that thought instantly evaporated as she felt an incredible sense of loss from deep in her chest, around where her heart was. As Subaru collapsed, so did Emilia half a second later, falling down right next to him. She tried to scream because of the overwhelming pain, but the only thing that came out was a gurgle. She felt a taste akin to iron in her mouth, the reason for that was the blood pooling in her throat trying to find an exit. Gurgling on the floor, trying to scream, Emilia looked at the boy's face. It was adorned by a horrified and tortured expression. A trail of tears made its way down his face along with a steady stream of blood which was slowly flowing out of his mouth. Blood mixed with the tears, before staining the floor red along with the carpet. There was no light in his eyes. Emilia couldn't make out her own face from the reflection in Subaru's eyes, but she thought that a similar expression covered her own face.

_Pain am I dying why am I dying what happened did Subaru die why did he die why does it hurt why it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts painful I'm scared Puck help me I'm scared_

Questions and statements started to fill Emilia's head firing rapidly one after another, while half of her laid on the cold floor and the other half on the warm carpet. Those questions would not find an answer. As Emilia felt her Od trickling out of her body, so too did she feel her thoughts exiting along with it and for a moment her mind became empty, her panic lessened as she just stared at Subaru.

 _No, this must be a nightmare. Yes... it's just a nightmare. It can't be real._ As the gears in her head slowly started up again, Emilia affirmed her own thoughts, wrapping herself in a convenient delusion to look away from the grim reality currently facing her. The pain had now lessened, if only by a bit.

Emilia could somehow tell, even without seeing the lack of light in his eyes, that Subaru had already passed on before her, leaving her behind to perish by herself. At that realisation a feeling of envy flashed through the place where her heart used to be. Envy at the boy who had died so quickly and didn't have to suffer, in comparison to her, who was lying down, barely able to move her fingers, and in indescribable pain. It was a new and unfamiliar emotion to her. As she finished processing the feeling Emilia felt ashamed at her selfishness. For wanting to pass on quickly like the boy next to her, for wanting to pass on together with him after she left him behind all alone in the capital.

She felt lonely.

 _This pain must be my punishment..._ A stray thought entered her mind as she tried to make sense of why she hadn't died yet. In reality, almost half a minute had passed, but to her, it felt like hours.

Emilia noticed Subaru's hand close to her own. Whenever they had held hands, she felt secure. Following that train of thought, she used the last vestiges of strength left in her body and inched her hand closer to grab his in an attempt to have some small comfort before her approaching demise. She grabbed his hand and felt his faint warmth against her skin, it reassured her and calmed her down. His hand was soft and his fingers were slender. She noted that her mind was now oddly at peace compared to when she had collapsed a moment ago.

As Emilia's thoughts were fading, she felt sadness, regret, and guilt. Sadness for not being able to achieve her goal. Regret towards Puck for leaving him behind, all alone, without even managing to say farewell. And guilt towards the boy for getting him involved with her and eventually leading him towards his demise.

A final wish entered her thoughts. A wish for the boy to live. She gripped his hand tighter.

_I'm sorry._

_If I was never born you'd still be alive._

_I hope you can forgive me._

It was getting harder to formulate sentences in her head. She knew it was inexcusable to ask for forgiveness from the boy that had died because of her. Emilia slowly closed her eyes, too tired to keep them open. She felt the end rapidly approaching.

_If there is something after death, I hope you get to live a happy life._

_I don't want you to die..._

_...Stay alive_

_...Subaru._

Her consciousness was slowly submerged in darkness.

_I don't want to die._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, by the Gods... The suffering, nooo...
> 
> -The old man of Townton


	2. Incongruous

Through the darkness, her consciousness pushed itself to the forefront of her mind, breaking through the surface of the deep, bottomless mass it had just been submerged in. Emilia slowly raised her body to sit upright in a chair while opening her foggy eyes, blinking a few times. 

"...Where am I?" she asked herself. The first thing Emilia laid eyes on was the desk in front of her. There was a book sprawled open in the middle of it. On the right edge of the desk was an inkwell, with a feather resting inside it, soaking up the ink. And finally, on the left side of the desk was a stack of papers and more books. Above them, near the corner of the desk, was a lamp and a small potted plant. Emilia looked around the familiar room dazedly.

"My room...?" Her room was illuminated by warm and gentle sunlight, steadily shining through the big windows. Some of the rays also ended up landing on her pale skin.

Emilia's mind was cloudy as the jumbled-up thoughts all vied for her attention. In addition to her head feeling hazy, her body felt fatigued, as if she had been running for an entire day without breaks while being hit in the head with a club. 

She subconsciously clutched her chest over where her heart was. Her heartbeat, slow and steady, had a calming effect. She was relieved that she felt no pain as if it had never been there in the first place.

 _Pain?_ Why did she think there would be pain?

"A nightmare?" the half-elf girl muttered to herself, her mind finally starting to truly kick into gear. The stress from working longer these past few days must've compounded with her lack of sleep and the guilt from leaving Subaru behind in the capital, for her to see such a bad dream. She looked over to where the boy had stood, determined to say something to her. Relief flooded her being as she saw the absence of corpses, as well as the lack of blood covering both the floor and carpet.

 _Corpses? Blood?_ She was baffled as she thought of these horrible words unrelated to her dream. She shifted a little in her chair, trying to summon memories of the dream, but there was nothing after 'dream Subaru' tried to say something.

"Puck." Worried, Emilia moved her hand up from where it lay on her chest and touched the pyroxene pendant hanging down from her neck, calling out to the Great Spirit, she needed someone to confide in. Emilia waited for a few moments but received no response.

"Puck?" She repeated herself, eagerly awaiting a reply. Half a minute passed and seeing as she wasn't receiving one she gave up. It wouldn't be the first time something like this had happened, though it was still rare. Emilia was a little disappointed that he disappeared during a time when she needed someone to discuss her worries with, someone close to her.

Emilia slowly stood up from her chair and yawned, while covering her mouth with a hand. She looked at the time crystal on the wall next to the door. The crystal had a bright red shine to it, indicating that it was currently in the middle of Fire Time. Dinner would still be a few hours away. She was feeling a little peckish, so she decided to take a small snack out of the kitchen pantry, Puck wasn't there to stop her, after all. 

Feeling a little smug at the idea of getting her petty revenge on Puck, she headed down to the kitchen for a snack. She noted the very lonely atmosphere of the huge, empty mansion, as she walked through the corridor leading to the spiral staircase which would take her to the first floor.

Roswaal was away, meeting with an important person from his domain, Emilia had left Subaru in the capital, and Rem had stayed behind to care for him. Ram was incredibly busy with her chores, now that she had to care for the mansion by herself. Beatrice also hadn't come out of the Forbidden Library since Subaru had left the mansion. And now Puck was refusing to leave his crystal for whatever reason. 

She counted the people on her fingers, thinking about all these wonderful, missing people, who contributed to the mansion's liveliness. It made her a tad depressed, but it wouldn't do to wallow in melancholy.

In the end, if Emilia wasn't keeping herself busy with something, her thoughts ended up falling to the energetic youth. She was constantly questioning herself if she had made the right choice leaving Subaru behind and cutting ties with him. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted him around, it just wasn't the same anymore without his usual goofy antics. But she also didn't want him getting hurt because of her. Once more, Emilia's rationality won and she accepted that she had made the right choice.

Emilia arrived in the kitchen as another wrestling match ended inside her head. She snagged herself two slices of brod, along with slices of chiis from the almost vacant pantry. She momentarily admired the basic sandwiches, before slowly eating them in quiet bliss behind the kitchen table. She was trying to remember which subject of her studies she had left unattended.

She had finally finished memorizing a chunk of Lugunican history about the royal family and the mathematics problems that Ram had given her. Now the only thing left to do from her current assignments was reading a classical work of literature from each of the different countries around the continent. Ram wasn't able to find any classical works from Kararagi in their normal library, which made Emilia wonder if she could ask to borrow one from Beatrice. She was sure to have something stored away in the huge Archive.

Emilia ate up her small meal and felt energized. She didn't know where to put that energy, and for the first time in five days, she didn't really feel like studying or doing anything related to it. She thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that she needed to take a break. Maybe she could go and chat with Ram to pass some time, if she was really lucky she could help with a chore or two.

"Like Puck said yesterday, 'it's necessary to rest your mind every once in a while.'" Emilia quietly spoke to herself, imitating her worried father's voice as she imagined his floating figure, putting his small arms on his tiny cat hips.

Light footsteps echoed in the hallways once more, her legs started carrying her towards the entryway, located in the main wing of the mansion. Emilia remembered that Ram was supposed to be working there. She would use this opportunity to try and hopefully get closer to the pink-haired maid. While Emilia's relationship with Rem had deepened after Subaru came to the mansion, Ram still attempted to keep a professional distance, despite Emilia's attempts to bridge the gap between them.

A slight creak echoed out in the entry hall just as she turned the corner, and Emilia saw the target she was after about to step outside. She quickly made her presence known, "Hello, Ram." The gentle greeting rang out, sounding as if a silver bell chimed.

Noticing the half-elf, the pink-haired maid turned back, bowed lightly, and gave a polite greeting, in her normal, almost monotone, voice.

"Greetings, Lady Emilia." The half-elf's prey, now stationary, stood awkwardly between the inside and outside. Emilia went in for the kill.

"You don't have to be so polite with me all the time, you know." Emilia tried to get Ram to open up a little. The maid looked to be in thought for a moment, before declining the request, "Lady Emilia, I must refuse. It is important that I follow hierarchy and show respect to someone of higher status."

"Then as your superior, I order you to be less polite with me!" Emilia pointed her finger towards the maid and followed up smugly, trying to somewhat salvage her failed attempt. Ram stared at the half-elf deadpanned for a second after which her face slightly grimaced. The flow of conversation suddenly stopped, and an uneasy silence appeared as both of them stared at the other, not saying anything. Emilia utterly failed in her recovery.

Seeing that the conversation is stalling, and having a little trouble coming up with a conversation topic, Emilia just watched Ram uncomfortably. "Now if you'll excuse me." After waiting for ten seconds in silence, the maid, seeing that Emilia had nothing else to say, started heading back out through the door. Emilia tried grasping at straws and suddenly noticed something off, she might still be able to save this hopelessly failed attempt at conversation.

"Umm, Ram... didn't you go down to the village for supplies two days ago?" Emilia had spotted that Ram was carrying an empty crate used for transporting food supplies. "Did you forget anything or did we already run out of something?" Emilia asked hesitantly, naturally following the maid outside. 

She hadn't put much thought to it, but the pantry had been unusually devoid of food. Two people couldn't eat that much food in just a few days, right? Had Beatrice gone on a snacking spree? With questions floating over the half-elf, the maid responded.

"What do you mean, Lady Emilia? I haven't been down to the village for a week now." The maid tilted her head a bit as she passed the crate to Emilia, so she could lock the door, also secretly hoping that Emilia would carry it, so she wouldn't have to.

Emilia was happy to help Ram with something she couldn't usually do. She effortlessly held the empty crate, and replied back, "—Eh? But I distinctly remember you going there..." Emilia muttered to herself in confusion.

The two started walking. Ram's footsteps were almost completely silent. If not for Ram's voice Emilia might not have noticed if the maid was still there or not."Is everything alright, Lady Emilia? Did you hit your head?" The maid had a slightly snarky tone, which she often used on Subaru as she teased him. Was she actually following the order Emilia gave her?

"What are you saying? Of course I haven't." Emilia said as she shifted the crate and put her now free hand on her head, feeling for a bump. She wanted to make sure, just in case. "—Never mind that." Emilia took her hand off her head, confirming there was no bump.

"I'm reeeeally certain you went just a few days ago. Ah! Also your schedule. You were supposed to be cleaning the entry hall today at this time, weren't you? Also, you were supposed to trim the hedges right after." Emilia knowingly stated.

"No, as you can see, my hands are full with the shopping at the moment." Both of their eyes turned to the maid's empty hands. Ram looked away momentarily and cleared her throat, "Ahem. Cleaning the entry hall and trimming the hedges are my duties two days from now." The pink-haired maid denied Emilia's claim, leaving Emilia more confused.

"If you don't mind me asking, Lady Emilia, how did you know? I haven't told you about my schedule for the next few days." Ram was getting curious.

"How?" Emilia remembered the maid coming to inform her of the schedule, in case she needed her for anything. "—You came and told me didn't you?" Emilia said with a confident smile.

"I've said no such thing. It appears you've started turning senile at such a young age. I fear for your future, Lady Emilia." Ram managed to effortlessly break the confident smile directed towards her, causing doubt to swirl in the half-elf.

"Jests aside—," Ram took on a more serious tone, "maybe you've misremembered, or gotten different days mixed up?"

Emilia, ignoring the awful remark preceding the question, replied thoughtfully, "Hmm... I can't remember misremembering anything recently—and I'm sure I don't have the days mixed up."

"Hah!" Emilia heard a cheeky snort, rarely directed at the half-elf.

"Huh?" A pout momentarily found its way onto Emilia's face as she realized how she had worded the first part of her reply. Brushing it off, Emilia fell silent as they kept walking towards Arlam village and so too did Ram.

Emilia took the time to admire the greenery and noises from the forest-dwellers around her. It was a sight that she'd only known for a little more than a year, having previously lived in the eternally frozen Elior Forest. Everything felt so alive, compared to the forest she'd previously inhabited. She was glad that the forest which had been silent for the past one and a half days had returned back to how it usually was. They kept walking down the road, the only sounds made by them being the crunching of dirt and gravel beneath their feet.

After around five minutes Ram broke the silence which had appeared between them, "Maybe you're confusing dreams with reality?" Emilia almost froze as the maid stated the last possible option that came to her mind, causing Ram to raise an eyebrow. Even Emilia herself was surprised how averse she felt towards the word "dream." It wasn't that bad, right?

After a brief pause, Emilia mumbled out, "...Maybe."

"Lady Emilia?" Ram asked, silently analysing her reactions. The uncharacteristic stiffness of the silver-haired half-elf was slightly concerning, though it wasn't apparent from Ram's demeanor.

After waking up, Emilia tried her best to ignore the dream. She wanted to wait until she could discuss it with Puck, and had succeeded in not thinking back to it. Along with Ram's question came flashes of the dream, memories of emotional pain. She felt an ache in her chest the moment she remembered Subaru's savage words.

"—No, it's nothing, Ram..." Replied Emilia, dejection evident in her voice. A moment later it became gladdened. "Thank you for worrying about me." Emilia gave a gentle smile as she said this, thankful for the maid's show of concern.

"Hmph! Quite presumptuous of you to think I'm worried." Ram snapped back, causing Emilia to smile sweetly. This is what she wants, a less formal relationship, like the one she had had with Subaru.

"So, spit it out." Said Ram in an almost commanding tone, giving the half-elf no opportunity to retreat. Emilia wasn't prepared for Ram to keep on pushing the topic like that, seeing as she hadn't asked about what had transpired in the capital. The maid could clearly see something bothering Emilia, even more than the entire capital debacle.

"No. I really can't bother you with—"

"Out with it." Seeing how adamant the maid was about this, and that she had no way to deflect the conversation in a different direction, Emilia gave up and replied. "Alright." Pumping herself up, she started contemplating which part of the dream to start with.

 _Which part...? Wasn't there only one part?_ Her head started to become dizzy as she tried to dig deeper into her memories, only to end up drawing a blank. She sighed, giving up, and started reciting the things she remembered.

"It was the morning of today, and Subaru had come back from the capital. The village kids found him driving an unknown dragon carriage. He was covered with wounds from head to toe, and the cart wasn't better off either."

"From the description, it sounds like a miracle he wasn't dead." The maid stated while imagining the scene.

"Mmhm." Emilia nodded her head to the maid's accurate assessment.

"So, the village kids brought him to the adults, who in turn called you and helped you carry him to the mansion." Emilia recounted the order of events that "Dream Ram" had told her.

"Wait—Barusu came back alone...Was Rem not there?" Ram asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"I'll get to that in a moment." Emilia gathered herself as she remembered her complicated feelings when she saw him in the dream.

"You called me down to heal him because he was barely alive, and you couldn't find Beatrice. You put him in his room in the servant's quarters. I felt so disappointed in him for breaking the contract with Crusch that I couldn't look at him anymore, so after I finished healing him I left to go back to work." Ram looked down the dirt road, waiting patiently for the half-elf to continue.

Emilia took a quick breath and said, "Soon after he woke up and came to see me. He tried to get me to run away from here, because of some threat that he didn't explain."

"Barusu truly is brutish, even in dreams. He isn't aware of how delicate the heart of a maiden is." Ram snorted at the image of the brash boy that appeared in her head. Emilia lightly chuckled at the comment, she thought it fit him. The corners of her mouth then lowered into a small grimace.

"Then after I refused to leave, he started saying mean things about how 'everything will go wrong,' that 'I'm beyond saving,' and that 'I will keep doing rash and reckless things, leaving behind a pile of corpses.' He said that was my future." Emilia tried to block out the stinging pain, as she remembered the insults the boy had thrown at her. Ram wasn't all that shaken about this, she'd completely seen through the boy's facade on his third day of work, after all. The maid chose to stay silent.

"Each word he said to me seemed to hurt him as much as me and when he finished he looked as if he was in so much pain. So I asked why he looked like that. He started to cry and said that he got to the mansion thanks to Rem and that there were things he had to do for her. But then came the weirdest part, I didn't remember who Rem was..." At those words Ram stopped walking, she just stared at Emilia completely dumbfounded.

Not noticing that Ram had stopped, Emilia continued, "He stared at me in disbelief and said that I don't remember Rem either." Ram slowly connected the dots in her head, and the implication shook her to the core. The Barusu in Emilia's dream must've been referencing Ram as the other person who didn't remember. Ram felt something she hadn't felt in a long time, fear. She imagined a terrifying life where she had completely forgotten who her precious little sister was, now fully devoted to her master. She vowed in her heart to cherish Rem even more than she already did.

"Ram?" Emilia noticed that the maid wasn't beside her anymore. She looked behind her and saw the maid standing a fair bit away from her. It took a moment for Ram to get a hold of herself, after which she caught up to Emilia. Emilia was a little worried seeing her like that but chose not to question it.

The maid having returned to her side, Emilia continued on, "And so he said he had to tell me something, something reeeeally important. He said—" Emilia suddenly stopped speaking, not knowing what came after. It felt like she was missing the pieces to a puzzle. The sentence was on the tip of her tongue, it was something she knew she mustn't forget. And yet, she had anyway. Was Ram right? Was Emilia really turning senile?

"Lady Emilia. The village is in sight." Ram interrupted the half-elf, who had started worrying over her own potentially bleak future. Emilia saw the village only a short distance away and gave the crate to the maid.

"Ah—Thank you, Ram...I'll wait here." When she'd attempted to try and evacuate the villagers today and the day before that—they hadn't really taken her seriously, and a few of them had even insulted her. Therefore, Emilia was a little afraid to enter the village again without her cloak, which she had thrown at Subaru in anger before they parted ways. It would've been really useful right now and maybe even when she was trying to convince them before.

"I won't be long." Ram offered a small bow, before walking away and progressively getting smaller in the distance.

"Hmm..."

Emilia looked as the departing maid made her way to the village and completely ignored the welcoming villagers. The maid soon disappeared into one of the buildings. Having lost sight of Ram, Emilia started observing the peaceful village life. She saw the adults go about their daily jobs, while the kids were playing something near the entrance to the village, shouting loudly. One orange-haired girl with a red headband was caught by a boy and put to stand near a fencepost next to the road. She was the only one willing to listen to what Emilia was saying yesterday. If Emilia remembered correctly then her name was Petra. The child spotted Emilia and waved from a distance, causing Emilia to smile and send a wave back in the child's direction. Emilia started humming a tune, while completely missing most of the notes, in order to pass the time.

Ram was indeed quick as she came out of the house some minutes after she had entered, the crate now filled to the brim with different cooking ingredients. Emilia saw how the village kids ganged up on Ram as she was leaving, immobilizing her by pulling on her skirt. The kids were shouting something at the maid, as she was attempting to shake them off while also not spilling the produce. They finally left her alone after she said something and directed one of her most powerful glares at them. Emilia giggled a bit, imagining what the kids had said to tease her and what mean words Ram had used to get rid of them.

Ram made her way back with an extremely irritated expression on her face. She was mumbling under her breath, "Those kids—I swear, if they ever try something like that again...curse you Barusu...you better prepare yourself..."

"What did they do?" Emilia asked with a smile.

"...Grr!" Ram growled while giving her the stink eye.

"?"

Something caught the half-elf's attention. Emilia saw two worm-like creatures partially hanging out from Ram's left skirt pocket. From the sight of the furious maid, Emilia concluded that that was only a small part of the bullying she'd endured. The half-elf wordlessly walked over to Ram, took the worms out of her pocket, and placed them in the foliage beside the road.

"Seriously...those kids." Ram marched towards the mansion, her composure having completely vanished, thinking about which torture method to use if she ever sees Barusu again.

The silver-haired half-elf wordlessly followed the pink-haired oni with a smile on her face. The two made their way back towards the mansion, with Ram occasionally muttering curses under her breath.

▼▼▼

Emilia felt refreshed after the trip to the village and decided to get back to her studies. Tomorrow, after dinner, Ram would grade the work Emilia had done for the past week. She had also tried calling Puck when she'd returned to her room, but there was only silence.

She pulled out the chair and seated herself, making it creak. She took a look at the book which she'd left open when she left the room earlier, after having woken up. An ominous feeling crept its way into her heart, as she was left utterly confused by the sight. Greeting her were half unsolved maths problems which she'd already solved two days ago.

"Weird—Didn't I already do this?" The girl gently traced the parts of the paper where the answers should've been. The feeling grew and grew, causing her to think of the other subject that she'd completed. Worriedly the girl looked to her left, at the stack of books and papers. She needed to make sure, so she took the notebook which she always wrote her history assignments into and scanned the pages for work.

"This too..." She stopped flipping the pages, now stuck staring at the page she'd dedicated to Emerada Lugunica. It was the last page that still had something on it. The book was emptier than it had been in the afternoon. Nine pages of work had vanished, replaced by clean paper. There were no markings of anything having been ripped out either. Emilia put a hand to her chin in thought.

"How did my notes disappear and where did they go? Is Beatrice playing some sort of prank on me?" She deliberated for a moment before shaking her head, "No, she's not the type of person to do that—It can't be Ram either..." Closing the history book and putting it back to the pile, Emilia grudgingly accepted that her work had somehow been undone, and started redoing the maths problems. The only solace she could find is the fact that it was easier, now that she had already done them once before.

She took a peek at the time crystal, which had turned into a purple hue, signifying the start of Water Time. She had managed to redo all the problems which Ram had given in her maths book and even had enough time to rewrite two pages of history. Feeling delighted over her speedy work, Emilia stood up, about to head downstairs, before hearing a knock. Ram had come to escort Emilia down to the dining room.

"Lady Emilia. Dinner is ready." Ram respectfully bowed. She was still polite, but there was more emotion in her voice and mannerisms. She was making progress towards her personal goal number eleven.

The two started talking as they made their way down towards the kitchen. Emilia tried to make some small talk and searched for a topic in her head. Having found one, she aired the question to which she already knew the answer.

"Ram, what's for dinner today?" After all—

"it's Ram's specialty. Freshly steamed tatoes, of course." Ram said with a proud look on her face.—Ever since Emilia had returned to the mansion, the only food that Ram had made was steamed tatoes, and to be perfectly honest, Emilia was getting a little tired of eating the same food over and over again for five days, even if she was too kind to utter out the complaint. Also, each time she tried sneaking something out of the pantry Puck had stopped her.

"Mhm, I see." Emilia nodded and confirmed her suspicions. This must be one of the reasons Beatrice refused to come and eat together with them.

Emilia hummed out of tune as she sat down on her designated seat in the dining hall and watched as Ram went to the kitchen to bring in the food. Ram carefully placed the platter of steamed tatoes on the table near Emilia.

"Thank you, Ram." The half-elf offered her gratitude to the maid before she partook in the exquisite meal. As Emilia finished chewing her first bite she remembered that she had to apologize to Ram for her homework becoming undone somehow. 

She looked toward the maid standing off to the side and spoke, "I need to apologize, Ram, can we put off the grading for a day? I know this is going to sound totally weird, but somehow, parts of my maths and history assignments disappeared off the sheets." There was a momentary silence as Ram thought of something.

"—Lady Emilia." The pink-haired oni spoke, her face and voice perfectly deadpanned.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure everything is right with your head?" Ram's expression changed. She stared at Emilia as if the half-elf had gone delusional.

"As I said before, nothing's wrong with my head! Jeez." She raised her voice for a moment, before realizing her improper manners and quieting down. Emilia pouted at Ram, who still looked as if she was observing someone insane.

"—First off, your homework isn't due until two days from now. Secondly, what do you mean parts of your homework disappeared?" The maid tilted her head. Nothing Emilia said made sense to her.

"I don't know how it happened, but after we came back from the walk, my homework somehow became uncompleted—Wait," she blinked, staring into space, unable to completely understand the first sentence, "what do you mean by two days from now."

"There are still two days left until the time when your homework is due," Ram said with certainty in her voice.

"—Huh!? Have I actually mixed up the days?" Emilia felt relief at this fact, it wasn't catastrophic if she missed a chunk of her assigned work. Ram would, as a baseline, request a minimum of at least two-thirds of the assignments to be done by the time she starts grading and quizzing Emilia. The few times she'd done too little, Puck and Ram had scolded her extensively, and thanks to their efforts, she had managed to keep a nice streak of no punishment going.

"It appears to be so." The maid sighed and went back into the kitchen.

Emilia calmed down and went back to eating. After finishing her meal, she thanked Ram again before retreating to her room to continue rewriting her work. As with the maths problems, the notes that she'd taken on the deceased royal family weren't much of a problem, as she remembered most of what she'd written down.

The rest of her evening passed uneventfully. The time just flew by as Emilia worked and soon, it came time to go to sleep. Before going to bed, Emilia complained to the lesser spirits about the weird happenings today, exercised in the courtyard, as per her contract with Puck, and brushed her teeth, before finally tucking herself in. She felt calm and managed to swiftly fall asleep for the first time in the past five days.

▼▼▼

It was a familiar scene, she recognized the furniture of her room. A madman and a naive girl were facing each other. They argued, knowingly and unknowingly spitting hurtful words back and forth, both of their hearts slowly breaking. Ultimately those words didn't matter, they weren't important. It's the ones which followed right after—

 _"Emilia. I've... seen the future. I know what's gonna happen. And if you wanna know why, it's because... I can—."_ Following those words was an incredible sense of pain and they both collapsed next to each other. Her destroyed heart shattered even more as she saw the look on the usually cheerful boy's face. 

She tried to scream out, to reach out, but she couldn't. Her throat was blocked, her lungs devoid of air. She struggled pathetically, but ultimately it was useless. The half-elf was forced to stare at the dead boy's face and left to lament her own inability to save him from their tragic fate. Soon after, she stopped trying. Soon after, she tried again.

_If only I could make everything right—_

She shouted out, her screams inaudible. She reached her cold hand towards him, her body unmoving. As she gazed at the boy, in a constant cycle of attempting to do something, and failing to do anything, time passed. Seconds turned to minutes, which in turn turned to hours, which themselves ended up becoming days, eventually ending up as months and then years. She saw how the boy's corpse decomposed. First, it rotted, looking and smelling absolutely awful. Then, his flesh disappeared leaving behind only a crumbling skeleton. Eventually, the skeleton broke down into tiny pieces, ending up as nothing but dust.

_If only I could save him—_

She watched this process, a feeling of sadness taking over, while still agonizing on the floor, already dead, but unable to die. Still, she kept struggling against the inevitable end which would eventually catch up with her.

_If only I could try again—_

And so, after what felt like centuries, she finally dissipated into dust herself, only her silver-colored soul remained. She was in a perfectly white space, a cradle as some would call it, devoid of anything, except for other passing souls. She was finally free from her prison, no longer trapped in her physical form. And so she started her search for the pitch-black soul of a sinner, the one she wanted to save—

▼▼▼

Emilia sluggishly opened her eyes and stared at the familiar ceiling above her head. Contrary to how she had felt when went to sleep, feeling better than she recently had, she woke up feeling battered all over, drained of any strength and energy. She knew she had a dream, but unlike usual, she did not remember what she dreamt about. She was glad, as the dream was most likely what made her feel this way in the first place.

Emilia couldn't hear any birdsong coming from outside the window. The birds would normally greet her with a beautiful song, so the silence unsettled her a little. It had also been like this for a little while these past two days, before turning back to how it normally was in the middle of yesterday. That raised the question, why did it revert back again?

"Puck." Emilia carefully raised herself from her bed, her legs tired, and once more tried to contact the Great Spirit who served as her father figure. The mouse-colored cat refused to show his face once more, leaving Emilia at a loss as to what she should do.

One of their contract terms was that Puck would style her hair each morning, but seeing as Puck was not coming out, she was now left to decide it on her own. After some deliberation, she went with a crown braid.

It took her some time as she wasn't used to braiding her own hair, Puck had been doing it for her even before they formed a contract. Emilia had no way to confirm if she had done a good job or not, having been prohibited from looking into anything reflective as another part of their contract, but after adjusting it for some time, she hoped that it looked somewhat decent and got on with her day.

Emilia had her morning talk with the lesser spirits out in the courtyard, who mostly just listened to her continuation of how weird yesterday had been and other general topics. Emilia had never had any issues remembering everyday things before, so forgetting and mixing up multiple things in a single day—she was still flabbergasted by it.

Emilia finished speaking with the spirits and moved on to the next thing on her list. She started her morning exercise routine, which mostly consisted of the radio calisthenics, the weird dance thing from Subaru's homeland that he'd had taught her, along with a few other things Puck had recommended her.

As Emilia was doing the final stretches, she noticed the pink-haired maid approach in the distance. Emilia was about to greet her as she normally would, but her face stiffened when she noticed that Ram had a serious face, approaching her with hurried steps.

"Good morning, Ram. Is something wrong?" Worried, Emilia looked Ram over to see if the maid was physically okay.

"Good morning, Lady Emilia." The way Ram spoke was tense, "Yes, it seems something dangerous is lurking around and is causing most of the animals to leave the forest. I can't seem to connect to any of their wavelengths." Emilia thought back to the silence of the morning and nodded her head. 

"Alright, I'll also keep an eye out," Emilia replied with a serious attitude. She put a hand to her chin, falling in thought. She remembered the warning from a couple of days ago. If Ram had come to warn her again, then it must be something really dangerous. An image appeared and made itself known, the one from her dream, one of Subaru trying to run away with her from a supposed danger. Was it actually a premonition?

 _No, no, no. It's just a coincidence, he didn't come back yesterday—I shouldn't get my knickers in a knot._ Emilia shook her head to clear it, causing Ram to stare at her strangely. But if that's so, then why did the animals come back for a day? Multiple questions, but no answers.

"Just in case, I'll tell you my schedule for the next few days, if you need to find me." Choosing to ignore the strange and silent Emilia, Ram presented the same schedule that Emilia had heard from her a few days prior. "Also, take care to notify me if you venture outside of the mansion. If anything happens to you I'll know where to start the search." Usually, Ram would accompany her, but seeing as she was currently the only staff member in the mansion, she didn't have much time to babysit Emilia.

"Of course."

"That is all Lady Emilia, I will call you down when breakfast is ready. Let me know if you notice anything that looks off." Ram looked at the silent forest, then back at Emilia, and bowed. The maid turned around, causing her skirt to flutter, and departed to prepare food. Emilia was left alone to contemplate what kind of danger was approaching from the forest.

"Are the mabeasts gathering again, or is it something different?" The pack of ulgarm, who had previously inhabited the forest, were incredibly dangerous, but their presence had never driven animals away. She took a moment to think, but couldn't come up with any other possible suspects.

"I should also try evacuating the villagers again, they refused yesterday and the day before, but maybe they'll listen now—" Remembering the villager's reaction when she'd went the first time made her hesitate, but she wouldn't give in, they were also in danger, after all.

"I already reinforced the barrier, but maybe I should check up on it again." She felt it was better to be safe than sorry. Having decided her plan of action for today, Emilia set about her abnormal daily life once more.

▼▼▼

At some point, Emilia had started noticing something slightly unsettling. Small actions, pieces of conversation, and other happenings lined up with what she'd already experienced a few days ago. Some things didn't exactly line up, but they were extremely similar. This was most noticeable in her dialogues with Ram.

The wording she'd use, _"Lady Emilia, could you assist me for a moment."_ / "Lady Emilia, could you assist me for a bit."

Her attitude while speaking, _"Hmph! It seems you're not as useless as a certain 'worthless' manservant."_ / "Hah! It seems the inadequate person leeching off of us still has a lot to learn."

Her almost perfectly timed bodily reflexes, _"Hic!"_ / "Achoo!"

The feeling of anxiety in the pit of Emilia's stomach was slowly growing as the day went on. The choice of food might have also been a pretty big tell, if it wasn't something she'd eaten for multiple days straight now, for every single meal.

After she was done with the latest helping of steamed tatoes, Emilia once more prepared herself to do the herculean task to try and convince the villagers. She thanked Ram for the food and let the oni know where she was planning to go. Ram once more tried to dissuade the half-elf, but seeing as she wasn't able to, gave up and wished her luck.

The trip there was eerie, the only sounds coming from her footsteps. There were no animals to be seen or heard, and even the trees were completely silent, daring not to move. Once she arrived in the village, the same response she'd gotten for the last two days greeted her.

"Please, go back where you came from." A young man with blonde hair tried to peacefully usher her away, doing his best not to lose his cool.

"—Everyone! Please listen to me! There's something dangerous in the forest right now! I'd like you to evacuate to the mansion with me. Only for a few days, please!"

"We can't leave our work behind, who'll tend to the animals and the fields?" An older woman tried reasoning with her.

"But—" Emilia had been at this for a few minutes now, repeating her offer over and over, hoping that someone would listen. This was already the third day she'd attempted this, why did she hope that it would go any better. She was talking with a group of nine adults of varying ages, everyone else either hid in their houses or otherwise minded their own business.

"While we appreciate what ye'r trying to do, we'd be mad to listen to the words of a half-devil." A bald older man interrupted her plea, referring to her in the way everyone else had done their best to avoid.

"Johan..." A woman with greying hair next to him, most likely his wife, said disapprovingly.

Emilia grit her teeth, as the words of the old man, pierced her ears and made their way into her head. It then started to repeat in her mind. She tried to block her feelings as best she could, but it was no use. While she was thinking for which words she hadn't used yet while persuading them, help arrived—

"But the lady says that it's dangerous to be here, what if it's another mabeast attack?" The village kids came to her defence. They were the only ones willing to help her along, having been the victims and survivors of the dangerous incident almost a month ago. What Emilia was most surprised about though, is that Petra was leading the charge. Whenever Emilia had seen Petra she had a meek aura around her.

She was also surprised about the fact that this is the first time they came to defend her. Was she finally starting to get through to someone? Emilia touched the pendant around her neck for courage and gathered herself.

"Please listen to the children! Your lives are in danger!" Emilia, a little more confident than before, yelled out.

"Yeah! What if the big dogs attack again and destroy the village!" Said a young boy with short brown hair.

"What if it's some big monster!" A battle of words was taking place between the adults, giving actual sound arguments, and the children, doing their best to come up with their own, both sides refusing to heed the other's advice. The children were giving it their all until—

"Children, what are you doing?!" Multiple women ran up to the adamant kids. The kids resisted their moms, but unable to fight back, were pulled away from the place where they'd just stood in front of Emilia, into their respective homes. The half-elf felt a pang of guilt as she saw a few of them get dragged by the ear as their punishment. She was alone again, her defenders ripped away from her.

"Please. Everyone, you rea—" Emilia was cut off by a sigh from the blonde-haired young man.

"We respect your decision to become ruler, but right now we're not your subjects. So please, respect our choice. Though if what you say is the truth, then we will take your offer into consideration."

Emilia looked at the man with mixed feelings. She had finally, after trying for three days, managed to make some kind of progress with the people, but in the end, they still denied her.

Ram said it would be a futile effort. Emilia sighed in resignation. Each day, Ram had presented her the truth, in an attempt to stop Emilia from wasting her time on something useless. In her heart, and from experience, she knew what the outcome would be, but she wouldn't give up trying, for her own sake. She wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that something happened to the people because she didn't let them know about it beforehand. She could only hope that they'd listen to her tomorrow.

She started walking towards the edge of the forest surrounding the village to begin her second task of checking on the barrier, luckily it shouldn't take much time, seeing as she finished reinforcing it yesterday. She closed the distance between her and one of the crystals—

"Huh?" Multiple crystals that she'd placed further back in the forest were missing, and the one in front of her was also noticeably weaker. She started walking around the perimeter and was left to scratch her head at the disappearance of all of the crystals she'd put up. She wanted to go ask the villagers if they'd seen anything, but they'd probably be unwilling to tell her anything. She started running back to the mansion to get the few spare crystals they had left.

"Eh?" She opened the storeroom where the crystals were kept and noticed the amount of bags had increased overnight.

"But, there were only two bags left...Did I miscount?" More and more strange things kept on happening, she just forced herself to accept it and took a bag. This weird disappearance of crystals hadn't happened only around the village, but also around the mansion. She started from the part of the forest behind the mansion and worked her day down to the village. It was monotonous work, and slowly drained her spirit. She finished up a little before dinner and managed to do half of the perimeter before she called it a day.

It was dinnertime when Emilia returned to the mansion. She renewed her determination for tomorrow when she would confront everyone in the village again—

"I'll keep trying no matter how long it takes." Emilia looked up and raised her fist, her expression momentarily hopeful, before fading away. As she looked down she saw an irregular happening, one of Beatrice's blonde drills disappearing behind a corner towards the left-wing. This was a good opportunity to warn her of the unknown danger, and ask about the book that she needed, so Emilia quickly followed after her.

"Beatrice—" Emilia called out to the girl as she turned the same corner. The door closest to her swiftly slammed shut, signifying Beatrice had no intention to speak to her. Emilia walked up to it and opened it, revealing an ordinary guestroom. The girl had escaped back into her archive, nearly impossible to find for anyone except Subaru. Emilia sighed and went to wash her hands, before going to the dining hall.

▼▼▼

"I take it that the villagers were obstinate about their refusal?" Ram, before bringing in the food, inquired from Emilia. The maid had taken some time to arrive, not expecting her to already be in the hall.

"No, it went almost exactly as you said." Emilia lamented with a saddened look while shifting in her seat. Suddenly, a brilliant idea came to her, "Maybe if you helped me we could—" She didn't know how it had taken her so long to ask for help.

"I cannot help you on this matter, as it is one of your duties as the future ruler of Lugunica to learn how to lead your subjects." Ram firmly cut her off, denying the idea, causing Emilia's shoulders to droop.

"I guess that's true..." Her enthusiasm deflated, and after a moment, with remarkable speed, she managed to inflate it back up again. "Oh yeah! I think I actually managed to make some headway with them this time." Emilia said excitedly.

"This time?" The maid quietly asked, confused about what the silver-haired half-elf meant. Emilia didn't hear the words and continued, "I'm gonna try again tomorrow. Maybe I can finally get them to change their minds." Losing track of what Emilia was saying, Ram decided to change the subject.

"I hope your studies are progressing, tomorrow I'll be evaluating your work." The maid, remembering the confusion from yesterday, made sure Emilia was aware.

"No problems there, I only have the literature assignment to do, but I'm still missing a book from Kararagi, so I don't know when I can finish it. Have you found one yet?" Emilia had been sitting on this task for two weeks now. During the first week, she was busy preparing for the Royal Selection ceremony, and now she was held back by the lack of study materials.

"No, I haven't. I suppose we can keep that assignment on hold for the foreseeable future. Seeing as you're done with everything else, would you like to do the grading today?" Ram proposed to Emilia, before giving the half-elf a moment to think while she went to the kitchen to fetch the meal.

"Maybe, I wanted to go ask Beatrice, but she's impossible to find. I saw her for a moment, but she completely ignored me and disappeared. Also, have you managed to warn Beatrice yet?" Emilia said while looking at the maid set down the platters.

"No, I haven't seen Lady Beatrice since you left for the capital. Although I'm certain she is already aware." Ram finished putting the last platter on the table and waited for Emilia to finish.

"That's true, but I think it would still be nice to let her know." Having finished the topic Emilia looked at Ram and asked about the covered dishes on the table.

"Today's dinner is—"

"Freshly steamed tatoes, of course." Ram interrupted with a satisfied smirk and pulled the lid off, revealing nice hot tatoes. Every platter was full of them. Emilia just smiled and hid her growing distaste for the food. She found some relief thanks to the considerate maid who at least had the mind to flavour them differently each time. As Emilia started eating she wondered what had happened with all the other produce Ram had bought in the village.

After another full course of steamed tatoes, Emilia went back to her room to work on some documents to better learn how to administer the domain. It didn't take long for the maid to finish with the dishes, and she swiftly came, graded the work, and quizzed Emilia about the royal family. Emilia had done well, getting some praise from Ram, who then left to do other tasks. Emilia was allowed to take a break from her homework until tomorrow. Afterwards, she was once again left to her own devices and continued with what she was doing before, completely ignoring the break she had been rewarded with.

After some time a yawn exited Emilia's mouth, prompting her to take a look at the time crystal, and stop for the night. She would usually go outside for a walk at this time, but with looming danger close by it probably wasn't the best idea.

She thought about and discussed all the weird coincidences that happened today with the spirits. The spirits themselves, were on the quiet side, as they normally are. There were a few times during the day when she tried to summon Puck, but the cat refused to leave his crystal. Emilia completed her usual nightly proceedings and hopped into bed, wishing Puck "good night."

She hoped that tomorrow would be an ordinary day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone, hope you enjoyed the chapter. This is my attempt at writing some fluff before everything inevitably starts going downhill for our lovely heroine.
> 
> Next Chapter: The First Of Many


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